http://www.bopnews.com/archives/001541.html#1541Newsweek posted an article today called “The Secret Money War” about how 527s and other political organizations are getting money. Glenn Smith, of "Texans for Truth" fame, was interviewed by Isikoff and - putting it mildly - was not a bit happy with the end result.
His account of my comments is inaccurate, but I’ve been around long enough to put up with that. Isikoff had the same difficulty recently with inaccurate reporting in his stories on Michael Moore. I’m proud to be in such company. I’d just like to correct one small thing, some errors by omission, and point out the story’s obvious and irresponsible anti-egalitarian bias.
. . .
As we left the Washington, D.C. restaurant last week, I told Isikoff that I believed our current circumstance, in which Americans get 75 percent of their campaign information from paid television advertising, needs to change. I told him I found it unsettling that the power of one’s voice depends upon its access to money. I told him that the McCain-Fiengold (sic)
reform measure is like most half-baked efforts at reform, little more than a loophole manufacturing machine. I told him I supported reform that would provide full public financing of campaigns and free television air time for candidates.
Isikoff looked at me blankly. He took no notes as I spoke of these concerns. I guess he thought them irrelevant to a story on the financing of this year’s national political discussion.I think the last paragraph speaks volumes about Isikoff's journalistic ethics. Smith's account makes it appear that the story was already written and the interview was a formality.
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